MEZZE MANICHE IN BRODO AND LET IT RAIN…

 (di Sergio Efosi e Giulio Efosi*)

“Mes manag in brod” also know as “Mezze maniche ripiene in brodo”

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The typical Piacenza cuisine with the “Mezze maniche ripiene in brodo” of Capon or Hen and Beef (someone prefers eating them with Pork filling) reaches maximum levels that have crossed the provincial boundaries as in the case of “Pisarei e fasö” and the “Anolini in Brodo”.

 In this case, just like the “Anolini”, there is a variant with “Stracotto” and another one without it.





For us, people of Val D’Arda of both the hilly and mountainous area we like to remember here the one without “stracotto”.

The main ingredients are: Well seasoned Grana cheese (Grana Padano d.o.p. di Piacenza), eggs, bread crumbs, nutmeg, broth and pasta…
The proportions require a prevalence of Grana cheese over bread crumbs (more or less 60% vs. 40% respectively), the use of the whole egg and the pasta preferably dry, industrial or handicraft, of good quality (Someone remember the brand “Pasta Combattenti”? For this recipe it was the best one!).

The thing you should never forget: The patience! It’s necessary to fill an entire half-kilo small package of this particular pasta.

With this amount you will have one kg of stuffed pasta, the right dose for four hungry people.

I forgot to say that…

The farmers used reserving a second portion of broth diluted with an half glass of red wine “fa al surbì un pita ad mes mànag”.

There are also other variants with fresh pasta with other fillings of different cheeses, but this is the one I prefer the most!

But there are two more things that I’d like to say:

1 – When this dish began to be cooked in Valdarda, Vallongina (Piacenza) and in the neighboring area of the Parma province only one type of Grana cheese were produced at that time. In fact, there were no silage and things like that and the animals were fed with medicinal herbs and little else.



2- I’m certainly not a cooking expert, but surely it’s something I appreciate a lot!

Mezze maniche ripiene in brodo alla Valdardese (Ready to be cooked in broth)

Italian translation 

*la traduzione inglese è di Giulio Efosi che si scusa per eventuali errori.